Planck wrestles lead from Dunn to take Super DIRTcar Series win at Autodrome Drummond

“The Natural” claims first series win with Mike Payne Racing

“The Natural” Dale Planck, of Cortland, N. Y., wrestled the lead from Billy Dunn, of Watertown, N. Y., with 15 laps to go in Monday’s Super DIRTcar Big-Block Modified Series feature, taking the win in a six-leader, 100-lap race.

“The car wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be early in the race,” said Planck, who, after drawing the 12th spot, had his work cut out for him just breaking the top five. “I was just hoping that later in the race it would come around, and, sure enough, at about lap 60 or 70, it just started rolling around the middle good.”

In the Mike Payne owned 7z, Planck charged forward late in the race, claiming second after a lap-79 caution took leader Haers to the pits. Haers’s was the fourth car of the race, after Steve Bernard’s, Matt Sheppard’s and Danny Johnson’s, to break while in the lead.

With Haers out of the race, Dunn inherited the lead and held on to it on the restart. Planck challenged for the lead in lap 82, and nearly claimed it, but another yellow in lap 82 slowed his momentum and brought the field back together.

Ever persistent, Planck charged forward on the restart, breaking through Dunn’s defense in lap 84 to claim the lead.

“I felt like I was a little better than Billy Dunn there, but that one restart went back a lap, so it was back to second,” Planck said of the lap 82 restart. “He was pretty much in block mode at that point, so I had to try to find a different way around him.”

Planck outlasted the remaining caution-free 15 laps to claim his first Super DIRTcar Series win of the season, and his first series win with his new team, Mike Payne Racing.

“It feels awesome, definitely. First series win of the year, first series win with Mike Payne and the new team, and it feels great,” said Planck, also a small block Modified star, claiming last year`s DIRTcar 358-Modified Series Championship. “It`s been a couple years since I`ve raced a Big Block full-time, so it`s nice to get back in the swing of things with the Big Block. We just worked so hard – Mike and the team worked so hard – to try to get to this point in the race, and here we are. I`m very happy.”

For the second Super DIRTcar Series feature race in a row, Dunn claimed second place.

“We thought we had something for him, but Dale just got really good at the end,” Dunn said. “We had a second place car, and we came home in one piece – a lot of guys didn`t tonight – so we`ll get it ready for tomorrow.”

Early race leader Bernard usurped the top spot from polesitter Carey Terrance before the completion of the first lap, almost immediately putting significant distance between himself and the runner-up. He reached lapped traffic in lap 8, with Terrance, Johnson, Decker, and David Hebert battling it out behind him. Matt Sheppard joined the battle in lap 10, and took the second spot in lap 12.

Sheppard chipped away at the distance between the 9s and leader Bernard’s 54, gradually closing the gap until the 54 broke in lap 40 to clinch the lead for Sheppard.

The three-time defending Super DIRTcar Series Champion Sheppard, of Waterloo, N. Y., outlasted a caution in lap 54, but fell to mechanical issues to leave Johnson with the lead. Sheppard finished 25th:

Haers, of Phelps, N. Y., followed close in second, charging to the lead on the inside groove in turn 4, lap 71. A lap 74 caution brought the field closer to Haers, but he stayed ahead on the restart until mechanical issues took him out of the race in lap 79 and put him in 24th.

Hebert started sixth and stayed in or near the top-five for the duration of the 100-lap race, claiming third at the checkered. Alan Therrien finished fourth after starting 25th and charging into the top-five off the lap-79 restart. NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week VP Small Engine Fuels 200 Champion Brett Hearn stayed strong, drawing the tenth starting position and making his way up to fifth at the finish line. Polesitter Terrance finished sixth.

Rounding out the top ten are Gary Tomkins in seventh, Mario Clair in eighth, Pete Britten in ninth, and Yan Bussiere in tenth.

The Super DIRTcar Series continues Tuesday, July 23, at Autodrome Granby in Granby, Quebec.